Surrounded by a security detail, former President Donald Trump was rushed off stage and into his motorcade after a shooting at campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump is “fine” a spokesperson said.
Trump, the presumed 2024 Republican presidential nominee, appears to reach for his ear and ducks behind a podium at the first sound of gunfire and is quickly enveloped by several people who appear to be members of the Secret Service. About a minute after the first pop, someone can be heard saying “shooter’s down,” according to a PBS video of the event.
Supporters chant “U.S.A.” as the president, who takes a moment to raise his fist above the security detail, is moved off stage.
“President Trump thanks law enforcement and first responders for their quick action during this heinous act. He is fine and is being checked out at a local medical facility,” a campaign spokesperson said Saturday afternoon.
Utah political leaders immediately began sharing calls for prayers and support for the former president.
“The attack on President Trump is sickening and horrifying,” Gov. Spencer Cox wrote on X shortly after incident and before more details were available on what happened. “Abby and I join all Americans in praying for him and hope justice is swift for anyone involved.
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Tea Party-turned MAGA Republican, used his personal account to call for less concentrated power in the federal government.
“This would happen a lot less if we didn’t make the federal government and the presidency so ridiculously powerful,” he wrote, sharing a video of the chaos that had unfolded at the rally.
“Let’s push power back to where it belongs”
He added “We need government control, not gun control. Otherwise, tribalism advances at the national level”
In a later post, Lee — a habitual poster of baseless, bombastic claims — said all federal charges against Trump, a convicted felon, should be dropped as a way “take the political temperature down.”
Sen. Mitt Romney said he was relieved Trump was “safe and doing well.”
“Outrageous and tragic that anyone would make such a heinous and evil act. Grateful for the quick response from Secret Service agents,” Romney said on X. “This is a deeply sad day for America.”
Utah’s U.S. House of Representatives members added their voices in thoughts and prayers for the former president.
Rep. Celeste Maloy wrote on X, “Praying for President Trump, everyone at the rally, and our nation. I urge people everywhere to lower the temperature of our political discourse.”
Rep. John Curtis thanked the Secret Service and law enforcement “for all you do to keep us safe” and said he was “grateful the former president is safe and hope no one in the crowd was injured.”
“This attack and likely assassination attempt against President Trump, and the political violence toward his supporters, is sickening,” Rep. Blake Moore shared. “My prayers are with President Trump, his team, and Pennsylvanians this evening.
Rep. Burgess Owens shared Moore’s use of language to describe the shooting.
“Let’s call this what it is: the attempted political assassination of the next President of the United States. I ask the American people to join me in praying for President Trump and his family,” Owens wrote on X.
Both Utah major political parties decried Saturday’s violent attack.
“The Utah Republican Party invites Utahns everywhere to pray for the health, safety, well being of Donald Trump. We condemn the evil displayed today,” Utah GOP Chair Rob Axson said in a statement.
Utah Democratic Party Chair Diane Lewis said in a statement, “I am disturbed by today’s news out of Pennsylvania. Political violence is wrong, period. My thoughts are with those affected.”